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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

instaPoll: With the Fed’s growing influence in the private sector, do you support a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve?

instaPoll: With the Fed's growing influence in the private sector, do you support a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve?Congressman Randy Forbes

Today, the House of Representatives will vote on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 459). The bill was introduced to address the Federal Reserve's 2008 and 2009 bailouts, which authorized a total of $1 trillion in outstanding loans and the expansion of government involvement in the private sector, primarily to AIG and Bear Stearns. Although the Federal Reserve has released information about the amounts borrowed by banks and companies that utilized emergency programs, Congress has not been made aware of the factors and considerations weighed by the Federal Reserve in determining how and to which institutions to lend the money. H.R.459 does not seek to curb the Federal Reserve's independence, but aims to allow Congress to perform its appropriate oversight duty, ensuring that credible standards guide the Federal Reserve's decision making. Given the significant sums of money involved, we need more transparency into where and why the money was dispersed.

I was one of only seventeen of 435 Members of Congress to oppose these bailouts because I was not confident these plans would help our economy or create jobs that need to be restored.

As one of the bipartisan cosponsors of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, I believe in promoting transparency and holding the Federal Reserve more accountable as they spend taxpayer dollars.

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